Machine for washing blue-prints.



J. W. UPP 61W. 0. WAKEFIELD. MACHINE FOR WASHING BLUE PRINTS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 14,1904.

1,008,621. Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

Witnesses. Inventors.

John W1Upp.

Hiam O.

. mechanisms.-

' tion of a ortionof the same, viewedfrom UNITED STATES P TET a rmen.

JOHN UP]? AND WILLIAMO. WAKEFIELD, OF SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS T GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEXT] YORK.

MACHINE FOR WASHING BLUE-PRINTS.

Specification of Letters l'atent. Patented Nov. 14, 1911.

Application filed July 14', 1904. Serial No. 216,527.

T 0. all whom it grmcem: Be it known thati vve, JOHN W. UPP and ,WILLIAM O. lVAKnrmm, citizens of the United States, residing at Schenectady, in

the county of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain'new; and use- -ful Improvements in Machines for Washing Blue l?ri'n'ts, of which the following is a g specification.

This invention relates to apparatus, for

treating prints nade on sensitive paper,

The ordinary mode of washing blue-' prints is to lay each sheet in a shallow tank and subject it to the action of running Water for several minutes, after which it is lifted out and hung up to dry. This necessitates a good deal of manipulation for each separate sheet, and is a slow and costly process. Our invention enables one operator to wash large numbers of sheets rapidly and thoroughly.

It consists in 'a. conveyer of peculiar construction by which the sheets are carried undera plurality of water-spraying pipes and finally delivered to' suitable drying In the accompai'iyingdrawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation, artly broken away, of our improved. machine; Fig. 2 is an elevathe opposite side; Fig. 3 is a top-planview than the other.

of. part of the machine; and Fig. 4 sliows a modification.

A frame 1- is suitably supported, as on.

trestles 2, with one end preferably higher A plurality of transverse parallel shafts 3 is journaled inbearings in oposite sides of the frame. Each shaft has asprocket-wheel 4: for driving it, andin orthe other. xtransverse driving-shaft 5 provided with 'der'to use sprockets ofconsiderable size and yet bring the shafts near together, the sprockets are arranged alternately in two rows, those in one row overlapping those in At one end of the frame is a two sprocket-wheels 6, each of which is connected by a chain belt 7 with one row of sprocket-wheels 4. The shaft 5 also has a belt-pulley 8 by which power is communicated to the machine.

On each of the transverse shafts 3 is se cureda plurality of disks 9, spaced apart, sufficiently to overlap those on the adjacent shafts without touching them, so that all can turn freely. In Fig. 3 only two shafts are shown furnished with a complete set of disks, but in practice all the shafts are full eguipped therewith. The tops of this bank 0 disks form a nearly level bed on which blue-prints or othersheets to be treated can rest and along which they will be conveyed bythe rotation of the disks, as they all rotate in the same direction.

Above the, conveyer is a grid of per forated water pipes 10, supported on rails 11,

and projecting numerous jets of water upon the prints asthey are carried under them, face upward. The prints are fed in at the lower end of the frame, so that the water drains backward from them and they are subjected to fresh supplies as" they move upward. Arriving at the higher end of the conveyer, they are drawn off by a small, rapidly revolving roll 12 driven by a belt 13 from a pulley 14, and are received by an endless traveling apron 15 of a drying machine. The pulley 14 is a little larger than the disks 3,'so that the small roll is driven at a higher peripheral speed than the disks. The result is that the prints are pulled 03 the conveyer, and any wrinkles are thereby smoothed out.

In Fig. 4, the driving sprockets remain all of the same size, but the disks increase slightly in diameter from shaft to shaft, so that the resulting "increase in the peripheral speed of the disks exerts a constant pull on the prints and keeps them smooth and unwrinkled. v

What we claim as new and desire to se- 1. A vmachine for washing blue-prints and the like, comprising a plurality of par cure by Letters Patent of theUnited States,

i for rotating said shafts in the same direction, and water spraying devices in proximity to said disks.

' 4. A machine for washing blue-prints ahd vthe like, comprisin a plurality of parallel shafts each provi ed with a lurality of disks, sprocket-wheels on said shafts arranged alternately in two rows, two chainbelts engaging wlth said rows of sprockets,

and means for spraying water above said disks' i 5. A machine for washing blue-prints and the like, comprising a bank of disks r0- -tating at a given speed, and means for smoothing out the prints as they leave the" said bank of disks.

6. A machine for washing blue-prints and the like, comprising a plurality of shafts all rotating at a given speed, disks on said shafts increasing 1n diameter from shaft to shaft, and means for spraying water in proximity .to said disks.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 13th dayof July, 1904.

J OHN W. UPP. WILLIAMO. WAKEFIELD.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN B. HI'JLL, HELEN OBFORD. 

